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Hot Football Transfer Gossip: Vardy, Berahino, Costa, McClaren, Pochettino
Last summer, you could buy Jamie Vardy for £5m. That was the fee Leicester reportedly agreed with Sheffield Wednesday to sell the striker nine months ago, before the deal fell through. And if Wednesday want to try again this summer, the good news is that Vardy is still up for sale - but the bad news is his price tag has gone up.
According to a Times “exclusive”, Vardy’s new £80,000-a-week contract at the King Power Stadium contains a buyout clause of £30m. Often such a clause would make a club more vulnerable to predators, but it appears that in this case the opposite is true. Foxes chiefs apparently sought to include the clause, as opposed to the player asking for it, because it will ward off any clubs trying to get the 29-year-old on the cheap.
Combined with the fact that Leicester seem almost certain to be playing Champions League football next season, the most likely result of this buyout clause is that Vardy will not be bought. Which is quite disappointing from the perspective of Hot Football Transfer Gossip, which wants all the transfers to happen, and possibly also disappointing for the makers of the Vardy movie, who would have a better ending if he went to Barcelona, or Kabul FC.
But never mind, there are some other big-name Premier League strikers who look more likely to be sold. One of them, obviously, is Saido Berahino, who the Mail reports will finally sign for Tottenham in the summer - for £24m. Hmm, because it’s just Daniel Levy’s style to pay top dollar for a player entering the final year of his contract and desperate or a move.
Another in-demand front man is Diego Costa, for whom the Star says Paris Saint-Germain are “plotting a stunning swoop”. Is there anything that sounds more fun than sitting around all day “plotting a stunning swoop”? No, there isn’t.
The rest of today’s football news is all about managers. Mauricio Pochettino has opened talks on a new Tottenham contract (Mirror), Juventus boss Max Allegri has vowed to stay at the club (Sun) and Roberto Martinez’s Everton future is “increasingly uncertain” (NBC).
But the fella who’s really in trouble is Steve McClaren. The Guardian says the Newcastle manager will be sacked within 48 hours, the Times says Mike Ashley has already started approaching potential replacements including David Moyes, Rafa Benitez and Nigel Pearson, and the Newcastle Chronicle reports that the club’s board has convened an emergency meeting outside the city where they are “considering all of their options”, which sounds like they could be getting some local gangsters involved. Run, Schteve. Run!
